Connecticut
is a good state for rockhounding. Connecticut’s
Yale University has one of the best museums in America for rockhounds, the
Peabody Museum of Natural History.

State
Rocks, Gemstones, Minerals, Fossils, & Dinosaurs

Rockhounding Tip: Knowing state rocks, gemstones, minerals,
fossils, and dinosaurs often can be very useful information for
rockhounders. Ordinarily, states with
significant mineral deposits, valuable gemstones, fossils, or unusual or
significant rock occurrences will designate an official state mineral,
rock/stone, gemstone, fossil, or dinosaur to promote interest in the state’s
natural resources, history, tourism, etc.
Accordingly, such state symbols often are a valuable clue as to
potential worthwhile rockhounding opportunities.

Almandine Garnet

State Mineral: Almandine Garnet (1977) Connecticut
designated the almandine garnet as its state
mineral in 1977. Garnets occur in
igneous pegmatites and granites as well as metamorphic gneiss and mica schist –
all of which are common in Connecticut. The
term garnet actually constitutes a group of six similar minerals, complex
silicates of the same atomic structure, but differing in chemical
composition. They vary in color from
pale to dark tints, including the deep violet-red of the almandine garnet. Because of its hardness (7 on the Mohs
scale), garnets are useful as an abrasive.
Almandine is the red/red-brown garnet.
The color comes from oxidized iron in the chemical makeup. The name Almandine likely comes from Alabanda
in Asia Minor where ancient garnets were first cut and polished.

Eubrontes

State Fossil: Eubrontes Giganteus (1991) Connecticut designated Eubrontes giganteus, a
large three-toed track, its official state fossil in 1991. The Connecticut Valley is one of the world's
foremost dinosaur track localities. Many
different types of fossil track impressions have been found in the Valley's
sandstone of the early Jurassic period (about 200 million years ago). Although no skeletal remains of the specific
track making dinosaur have been found, the shape, size, and stride of the
Eubrontes indicate that the animal was closely related to the Western genus
Dilophosarus. Two thousand Eubrontes
tracks were discovered on a single layer of rock in Rocky Hill in 1966 and
subsequently Dinosaur State Park was created for their preservation and
interpretation.

Rockhounding
Resources

State-specific rockhounding books (including the books listed here as well as other books), regional rockhounding site guides, and other helpful rockhounding resources are identified - by category - in the Books & Gear section of Gator Girl Rocks with a link to the Gator Girl Rocks Amazon Store where you may easily browse selected resources and securely place an order. Your order will benefit Charity Rocks!

Yale Peabody
Museum of Natural HistoryYale University – New Haven, ConnecticutYale’s Peabody Museum of Natural
History is one of the oldest and largest natural history museums in the
world. The museum was founded by George
Peabody, the wealthy uncle of Othniel Charles Marsh, an early paleontologist
and fierce rival of Edward Drinker Cope – both participants in the notorious
‘Bone Wars.’ Marsh and Cope raided the
American West shipping many dinosaur fossils to the east coast and deliberately
destroying others. The museum includes
the ‘Great Hall of Dinosaurs,’ which includes a juvenile Apatosaurus. In addition,
the museum has the oldest collection of meteorites and tektites in
the United States with thousands of specimens representing more than 400
different meteorite localities and nearly all of the various kinds of
meteorites and tektites. The museum’s vertebrate paleontology collections are among the
largest, most extensive, and most historically important fossil collections in
the United States.

Dinosaur State
ParkRocky Hill, ConnecticutDinosaur State
Park is one of the largest dinosaur track sites in North America. Beneath the geodesic dome, there is an
exceptional display of early Jurassic fossil tracks that were made about 200
million years ago. The tracks were
discovered in 1966. Fossil tracks are
classified and named independently from fossil animals. Dinosaur State Park's tracks are named Eubrontes. One of America's first geologists, Edward
Hitchcock, invented that name and many others in his pioneering studies of
Connecticut Valley tracks. No remains of
the dinosaur that made Eubrontes have been found in the Valley. Most
scientists, however, agree that the trackmaker was a carnivorous dinosaur
similar in size and shape to Dilophosaurus.
The tracks range from 10 to 16 inches in
length and are spaced 3.5 to 4.5 feet apart. Eubrontes is the
official Connecticut State Fossil.

Rockhounding
Sites for Children & Families

GarnetsRoxbury, Redding,
& Colchester, ConnecticutConnecticut is well known for garnets. Garnets of several colors and varieties are
found in many localities around Connecticut, including Roxbury, Redding and
Colchester.

Garnet

Garnets & StauroliteGreen’s Farm Garnet Mine –
Southeast of Roxbury Falls, ConnecticutCommercial
(fee access) business. This site, in
northwest Connecticut, is a well known garnet collecting site for almandine
garnets. Staurolite also occurs at this
site.